Stunning Mural To Beautify Vienna Shopping Center

VIENNA, VA—A mural depicting landmarks around Vienna and the DC area is set to appear at the Vienna Shopping Center this summer.

The Town of Vienna’s Public Art Commission has selected a Seattle illustrator that grew up in Vienna and a Richmond muralist and painter to create the mural on the back of the Vienna Shopping Center. Eleanor Doughty and Emily Herr’s concept, “Vienna’s W&OD Trail: Highway of Community,” depicts landmarks along the trail throughout Town as well as in greater Northern Virginia and Washington, DC.

"The W&OD trail will serve as the visual anchor representing Vienna," wrote Doughty in the mural proposal. "Overall the mural will be a map of Vienna, illustrating several of its major landmarks as well as outlying points of interest…. The general theme is to illustrate joyful, casual recreation of individuals in downtown Vienna (small town) against the greater surroundings of Northern Virginia and Washington, DC (big community)."

Rappaport Properties, owner of the Vienna Shopping Center at 180 Maple Avenue W, is funding the public art project.

Work on the mural is scheduled to begin around mid-summer or early August and take about three weeks to finish. James Madison High School art students will help create the design outline on the building, and other students will assist with color blocking.

The artists, Doughty and Herr, first met in 2009 at Virginia Commonwealth University, where they were both fine arts students, and have collaborated on other mural projects.

"Having spent the first 18 years of my life in Vienna…I grew up watching the Town change and stay the same," said Doughty in her proposal. "The W&OD bike trail is central to my growing up here. My earliest memories involve sitting behind my dad in a bike seat as he cycled us around Northern Virginia on that path."

Mural design courtesy Town of Vienna